The Office on NBC

Maybe it's different if you have never seen the original. I haven't seen the British one and I liked the one last night a lot.

Yep, sounds like you either love it or hate it. Well, I hope it lasts. It was good!

I loved the original OFFICE. I thought last night's show was good, admittedly I had really LOW expectations.

We evened ruined Changing Rooms, aka Trading Spaces, and that show doesn't have a script to ruin.

I wonder how far NBC will allow the show to go, the UK version was pretty shameless, but still hilarious.

On NPR, they had a British tv critic (?) discussing why UK don't always cross the Atlantic well. He said that in the 70s, shows like All In the Family didn't have to stand up against the British original on BBCA. He also said that in the UK, one writer usually works on a show, not a team of writers, like it is here.

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Originally Posted by DJeterFan

Maybe it's different if you have never seen the original. I haven't seen the British one and I liked the one last night a lot.

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I agree, DJFan. I thought it was great! Laughed through the entire thing (annoyed the hell outta my poor husband who was trying to sleep :lol) It's clever and different. Since I haven't seen the British version, I have nothing to compare it to, so I love it. I'll definitely watch it again! http://www.geocities.com/log_cabin_a...iley3/clap.gif

Rumpie, I'm with you and DJeter. I haven't seen the British show, either, and I laughed HARD several times. A few times it fell a little flat, but I'll definitely be giving this a second chance. I loved the fact it didn't have a laugh track, and I actually liked the uncomfortable silences that hung in the air, especially when I read it's intentional. It's supposed to be quirky, and I'm willing to see how where this goes. I thought the Boss (Steve Carell?) is hysterical, and I also loved the receptionist...she's so understated and insecure. Unique show...not the usual predictable, stupid fare. :up

Pom, I can't believe I'm not agreeing with you. :omg :lol

I had it on as background noise, so I didn't catch all of it, although I caught the Hitler bit and laughed out loud. (It's a direct rip-off, though, of a scene that John Cleese first performed brilliantly in an episode of Fawlty Towers.) ;)

I also caught a glimpse of the receptionist's cat calendar, which I found hilarious, for some reason.

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Originally Posted by phat32

I also caught a glimpse of the receptionist's cat calendar, which I found hilarious, for some reason.

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See, it's little things like that that really crack me up, too! I like subtle, dry humor. :)

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Originally Posted by SnowflakeGirl

I didn't laugh once. I don't care to watched humor that's been "tweaked" for so-called American tastes; I got the British version better than this sad, pale, need-to-shake-the-toner-a-bit photocopy.

It's not that I don't like Steve Carell; in fact, I've been a fan of much of his previous work. But Ricky Gervais is just too tough an act to follow. I'm not sure I care enough to give it another chance, either; I'd rather just watch re-runs of the original. Thank God for BBCAmerica.

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I didn't think it was at all funny either. But I did not find it "tweaked for American tastes." It was an exact copy of the original, only the actors were not as good, by and large -- they didn't get how to deliver those lines and make it funny. Not that I thought the original was particularly funny to begin with, but I recognized what it did well. I was hoping they would have made it more like Office Space, which is an all-time hilarious movie.

I haven't seen the original, but I thought this show was absolutely hillarious!! So much, that I watched it on both eastern and western times :P

"You've been X'ed punk!"

I will definitely be watching this show again.

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Originally Posted by Harvest

I was hoping they would have made it more like Office Space, which is an all-time hilarious movie.

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Office Space was a funny movie, I agree :)

I still have no idea what to call The Office from last night, other than disastrously unfunny. :(

I don't know what to think of this since I just saw the BBC series in its entirety in the past few weeks.

Despite an almost identical script the only character that appears the same is Jim (Tim). In fact his mannerisms and timing are so similar and quintessentially English that he must have purposefully studied the original actor. The boss is missing the outrageous arrogance, Dwight (Gareth) is missing the lechery and Pam (Dawn) comes off as too insecure and awkward. She has a long term boyfriend and Jim is in love with her but she acts like a wallflower who's never been kissed.

I think it's a great idea to change the characters since there is no way that American network television can take this series where it went in the UK, but the personalities seem stripped down and one-dimensional at this point. If the boss is just going to be an insensitive fool and Dwight is just going to be an uptight butt kisser it's not going to be very interesting.